Patients that undergo surgeries still become victim of stunning medical mistakes and it includes the possibility of surgery on the wrong patient. It is a mistake that should never happen in a hospital. There are reports in which wrong patients got invasive surgeries and researches found that some of them were due to poor communication. In past, surgeons performed surgery on wrong patient after getting confused as two patients with similar name were admitted in the same ward. In another case, invasive colonoscopy to check the bowels was performed on a wrong patient and the patient died as a consequence of failure to monitor its oxygen levels. It is a blunder that can even kill the patients and the survivors suffer from serious psychological and physical effects for the rest of their lives.
9. Air Embolisms
Humans require air for their survival but this air can also kill them in the form of air embolisms. It is defined as an air bubble that is allowed to enter the blood vessels accidentally through injection or IV tube, or during surgery. The air bubble travels in the blood stream and cause blockage of artery and vein. When the air enters an artery it is known as arterial air embolism and at some points it blocks the small artery and cut off the blood supply of a particular area of the body. When the embolism enters a vein it is known as venous air embolism and cause blockage in the circulatory system. Air embolisms also can cause pulmonary embolism or blockage in the lungs which is the leading cause of acute heart failure or sudden death.
These air bubbles can travel to lungs, heart and brain and cause a respiratory failure, heart attack or stroke. It is a serious complication during catheterization having thirty percent fatality rate. Even the survivors suffer from severe physical disabilities including severe brain damage. It is an extremely deadly medical mistake that can occur during routine surgeries, which is very frightening. There are many cases in which the patients died because of cerebral air embolism.
8. Blood Transfusions
Blood transfusion is very common in medical treatment now days because there are numerous emergency or medical conditions that require blood. In every hospital, medical procedures are performed daily that require blood transfusion. Unluckily, this routine method of medical treatment can be extremely hazardous for the patient when mistakes are made in the form of wrong blood is transfused to wrong patient or infected blood is transfused to patient due to some machine error. The common mistakes in blood transfusion include wrong identification of blood and the patient, incorrect labeling of the blood during collection, or assigning the wrong blood during surgery. In the medical history numerous cases of blood transfusion errors have been reported and some of these errors resulted in severe adverse effects and even death of the patient.
7. Wrong Surgeries
Wrong surgeries is a pervasive and under recognized issue and is considered a never event in hospitals. In a study of medical claims, almost twenty five percent were for patients who got an alternative surgery than what they were planned for. Wrong surgery is a very germane disaster. In one case, the wrong fallopian tube of the woman was removed during an ectopic pregnancy, probably understanding her infertile, and another woman had a removal of fallopian tube instead of her appendix. In duration of more than 20 years, 2,447 lawsuits were filed against surgeries that performed involving the wrong procedure. It is a preventable mistake but despite of various safety procedures it still happens in the major hospitals in all over the world.
6. Wrong Medication
Medicine is very important for the survival and the well being of the individuals but their over dosage or wrong medication can be lethal for the patients. Most individuals assume that the prescription they are getting from their doctor is appropriate with the correct dose, but numerous individuals get wrong prescription every day. There are billion prescription errors occur that can be fatal as they receive wrong medication and don’t receive medication they need for their disease. This mistake is made by pharmacists as well as by medical professionals in hospitals. There are cases in which the death of individuals occurred due to wrong injection or medication. One deadly mistake of nurse caused death of two premature twins by giving them a lethal dose of morphine. Almost 800 asthma patients die each year due to wrong medicine prescribed by doctors or doctors fail to monitor them properly.
5. Infectious And Contaminated Medical Instruments
Most individuals go to hospital in order to get treatment of their illness, but sometimes instead of getting cure they get many infections and diseases due to infectious and contaminated medical instruments and poor hygiene of staff. It is rarely heard or seen, but it happens with alarming frequency. In the four different hospitals of United States, between 2012 and 2014 numerous patients got the lethal Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease from contaminated surgical equipments. There are also cases in which patients were exposed to hepatitis due to contaminated oral instruments. It is completely preventable mistake and a “never event” in hospital and according to studies one out of twenty five patients in hospitals receive an infection, whereas almost 75,000 individuals die due to these infections each year.
4. Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis seems extremely rare but it is not and if it happens then it is a blunder in medical field and there is no excuse for it. It is like endangering the life of patient and how can doctors compromise with the life of patient just because of their incompetence. According to estimation, almost 80,000 Americans die every year due to misdiagnosis of their disease. Irrespective of advanced and expensive new technologies, there are million of patients in the world that are being treated for the wrong conditions. According to American Journal of Medicine, 15% of all medical cases in developed countries are misdiagnosed and according to the Journal of clinical oncology, almost 44% of some types of cancer are misdiagnosed. This misdiagnosis also leads to the death of individuals. The misdiagnosis is common in emergency department and ICU, serious conditions such as stroke, pulmonary embolism, heart attack, appendicitis and meningitis are commonly misdiagnosed in emergency care.
3. Urgency
Hospitals and emergency departments are extremely crowded and often in the time of immediate assistance patients do not receive care they need and in some cases the patient is remained untreated when the medical services are away. Sometimes the symptoms of the patients are not pathetic but the delay in appropriate treatment can lead to the death of the individual and nothing can be more tragic than this. Delay in treatment generally minimizes the number of treatment options an individual has to pursue. As in case of lung cancer or brain aneurysms, time is of extreme importance and if there is delay in treatment than there is decrease chance of the survival of patient. The delayed treatment also leads to irreversible damage.
2. In-Hospital Accidents
In hospital accidents are extremely common and according to the estimation of agency for Healthcare and Research Quality, approximately million patients every year face a fall in a hospital, under medical supervision and one third of these accidents can be prevented. The typical incidents include injuries from needles, handling and moving patients and exposure to dangerous chemicals. Slips and trips due to poor cleaning techniques cause 48 percent of injuries whereas majority of cases are of fall. The wrong use of bed rails also play a role as according to FDA there are approximately 500 deaths occurred due to use of bed rails and even many are not reported. Seriously ill and dependent patients can become suspended in between mattress and the bed rail and suffer from strangulation and suffocation.
1. Surgery Of The Wrong Body Site
The most horrible medical mistake that can happen is surgery of the wrong body site. It is really a blunder that can be extremely pathetic for the patient and is very common. We hear in routine the removal of wrong kidney or amputation of wrong appendage. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, there are approximately 1,300–2,700 cases of wrong body part surgeries that are performed each year in the United States. This mistake includes the surgery of wrong site or wrong organ and that can be extremely lethal for the patient.
-There are cases in which wrong eye of the patient was removed during the surgery making him blind and also cases in which patients were given surgery on wrong limb. Irrespective of marking the body part, this inexcusable medical error still occurs in hospitals. -